Convocation Newsletter, Summer 2018

21 The term “FinTech”, meaning “financial technology,” only came into wide use in the 21 st  century. However, Professor Douglas Arner, Kerry Holdings Professor in Law, takes what he calls a “very, very wide concept of what FinTech is.”   “This is not a new trend,” he said during an Endowed Professorship Public Lecture in March.  “If you think about finance and technology, they’ve always been connected. Coins are one of the oldest technologies in civilisation. Today, what is the most recent version of coins? Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.” Professor Arner spearheaded HKU’s initiative to offer Asia’s first FinTech MOOC (massive open online course) on May 15, 2018. The first week of its launch, “Introduction to FinTech” drew more than 15,000 sign-ups – and over 22,000 learners from all over the world by the end of the first course run in July 2018. The second course runs from July 15, 2018 to May 14, Bringing FinTech to the Masses Over 22,000 students worldwide sign up for a pioneering MOOC 2019. Both are hosted on edX, a platform MIT and Harvard developed in 2012 to bring online learning to public learners around the world. HKU’s “Introduction to FinTech” was a team effort. Course materials were created and taught by Professor Arner, FinTech experts and industry leaders, supported with production by the HKU Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative (TELI). The six modules, which students can watch at any time, are: “What is FinTech?”, “Payments, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain”, “Digital Finance and Alternative Finance”, “FinTech Regulation and RegTech”, “Data & TechFin”, and “The Future of Data-Driven Finance”. Register now for Asia’s 1 st FinTech MOOC Course Open Until May 14 2019: www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-fintech Professor Douglas Arner delivering an HKU online lecture about FinTech. Other instructors include (from left)  Henri Arslanian of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) – China & HK; Janos Barberis, Founder of the SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator in Hong Kong; Brian Tang, Managing Director of the Asia Capital Markets Institute (ACMI); Huy Nguyen Trieu, Co-founder of the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE); and Ross Buckley, Professor of International Finance Law, the University of New South Wales. CONVOCATION NEWSLETTER